In this chapter; Evie is 13, Elijah and Henry are nine, Alexis is four and Cecelia is three
The latest attack on New York came not long before Elijah and Henry's tenth birthdays.
The Avenger's assembled to fight a group of aliens who could disappear and reappear at will; you had to catch them completely off guard in order to get a hit in, but if you could; they were pretty easy to kill.
They'd all taken a beating, but were down to the last few thanks largely to The Hulk.
But then one of the aliens got lucky, they'd manage to sneak up on Stark while he was covering Steve. Natasha had been the only one to notice and had saved his life with a few swift bullets, but she'd left herself open; one of the aliens caught her off guard, they'd, materialised behind her, swung their staff and knocked her from the rooftop on which they were fighting.
Tony had somehow managed to reach her before she hit floor, but it was a close call.
The battle swiftly ended when, in anger; Thor took out the remaining aliens with one major lightening strike.
Luckily they'd been fighting on and around the SHIELD HQ building and weren't far from medical. Steve needed his arm looking at, and Clint needed some serious medical attention for his leg, which may or may not have been broken. He refused to let anyone look at it until he knew his wife was okay. She was unconscious after the blow to the head she took from the aliens staff and no-one knew how serious it was yet.
"Agent Barton, can we speak to you... In private?"
Clint nodded, leaving the rest of his team behind and hobbled down the hallway to his wife's hospital room
"Is she okay?" Clint's voice was almost pleading
"She should be fine, she'll be out for a while, and we'll want to keep her in for about a week to monitor her, but knowing Agent Romanoff she'll be out of here as soon as she's awake"
Clint smiled, breathing a sigh of relief
"There's something else Agent Barton..."
Clint's eyes snapped up from his wife, looking up at the doctor once more
"Did you know Agent Romanoff was pregnant?"
"Wha- what?"
Clint was sure he'd misheard; they'd decided they would try for another baby, but not for another few years. They were going to wait until Alexis and Cecelia had both started school, and that wasn't for another two years.
Clint had always wanted eight children (he's not sure why exactly, he just always had), Natasha had wanted two, he'd convinced her to settle on six ('almost a compromise' Natasha called it)
"She's not very far along, barely seven weeks; it's probable she doesn't know herself yet. We're going to want to keep an eye on everything after what happened today, just to make sure everything is remains okay, but it seems alright so far"
"Right, okay. Thanks" he was still slightly in shock, he didn't know how to respond
Clint went to tell the rest of the team that Nat was going to be okay, and that they could all go home. Steve and Bruce offered to take care of the kids so Clint could stay with Natasha for the night. He was grateful; he wanted to be the one to tell her they were going to be parents again.
Natasha woke several hours later at 2am, Clint by her bedside still awake and watching her intensely.
"Clint?"
"Tasha, you're awake!" he smiled, stroking the side of her face. He quickly withdrew his hand when she winced in pain.
"Hey Tasha, I heard some news today"
"You did?"
"I did"
"It good news?"
"It is"
"You gonna share?"
"You're pretty drugged up Nat, I think i'll tell you when i'm sure you'll remember. Its pretty big news"
"Okay Clint, tell me tomorrow"
"Sure thing" he smiled once more, kissing her hand and watching as she closed her eyes and went back to sleep
As it turns out, Clint should have told her there and then. The next morning Steve brought their five kids to come visit, who spent all day in the medical wing; chatting at 100mph, terrorising the nurses, cuddling up to their mother and making up games to pass the time. When Steve took them home to get them fed, Pepper visited, and after that it was Coulson and Hill.
Clint was desperate to blurt it out all day, but this was going to remain their little secret until they knew everything was going to be okay. Natasha had been though a lot in the last few days.
Clint had to literally beg the doctor not to tell her, insisting on doing it himself.
When it came time for Natasha's discharge (two days too late according to Natasha, four days too early according to the doctors) Clint still hadn't had chance to tell her. The doctor wanted to do a scan before she left so it was now or never.
"Tasha, we need to talk"
"We're going back to the tower in a minute, can't it wait til then. I just really want to get out of here"
"You remember the conversation we had when you first woke up?"
"No, not really"
"I have some big news to tell you" Clint blurted out hurriedly in order to stop Natasha who was on her way to the door of her room
She turned to face him, sensing the serious tone to his voice
"Is it good or bad?"
"Good"
"Go on then"
Clint stared at her; he had no idea where to start. It was unusual for a man to have to tell a woman she was going to be a mother, it was normally the other way around. He suddenly felt for Natasha, she had had to figure out how to do this several times to him.
"Tasha..." he began, but faltered at her gaze
"Yes?" she prompted, sitting back down on the bed, dizzy from standing for too long
"Maybe you should stay in for a bit longer?"
"Clint, no. I want to go home, I want to see the kids and sleep in my own bed. There's no reason for me to stay any longer, now can we go?"
"One minute. So, the news..."
"The news?"
...
"Tasha, we're going to have another baby"
Now it was Natasha's turn to be speechless.
"Tasha, Tasha you okay?" she'd been silent for a while
"Is- is everything okay with the baby?"
"Yeah"
"Are you sure?"
"They think so"
Natasha found herself crying, tears silently falling from her eyes
"Tasha?"
She looked up, wiping the tears and nodding. Smiling happily as Clint wrapped his arms around her.
"You ready for the scan now?" the doctor called round the door.
